The Handcart Race: Ranger Bill (April 4, 1956)

Ranger Bill, old-time radio on Stupid Potato

“The Handcart Race” is an episode of Ranger Bill, the old-time radio show, first broadcast April 4, 1956. Listen free on Stupid Potato: no sign-up, no app.

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What happens

Ranger Bill and his rangers help rescue a train crew when a storm threatens the tracks near Naughty Pine. Railroad dispatcher Unk McFadden at Junction City routes the fireball express over the high country while the crews Carl and Pierce test the trestles ahead. The rangers take shelter in a cabin and pass the night with a game of Scrabble. This episode of Ranger Bill was first broadcast on April 4, 1956.

Junction City and the railroad country around Naughty Pine and Canyon City, during a heavy spring storm

Characters: Ranger Bill, Unk McFadden, Carl, Pierce, Judd, Henry, Sonny, Stumpy

Listen for: The dispatcher's decision to send the fireball express over the mountain route, and what the trestle crew finds at the canyon

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.